Butternut Squash Coconut Wild Rice

Butternut Squash - Coconut Wild Rice
made in rice cooker - this amount will serve a family of 3 - well 2 adults and a toddler who can eat!
1.5 cups wild organic rice
1/2 large butternut squash cubed
3 cups water
seasoning to taste (I use Italian seasoning, fenugreek & cumin)
-after done cooking add 1 cup of coconut milk (mine is already pre-made)

I love my rice cooker, all I do is add the ingredients and press cook (takes about 30 minutes)! This only took me less than a minute to prepare because I had the squash already cut up from a previous meal (I froze it). I always buy them large and use 1/2 at a time, it's much less work.

I will put about 5 more minutes into preparing the salad - washing the lettuce, but if I bought pre-washed then no time added :)

Simply natural cafe

Simply Natural
ORGANIC RESTAURANT
We are delighted to serve an exceptionally delicious meal for your pleasure.
Our all organic menu is complete with vegetarian,raw,meat and fishes.

see website for more
http://simplynaturalsunrise.com/information.php?info_id=26

this was an awesome restaurant, all organic, and the food had a delightful persian flavor to it, very mild & delicious. They have some great raw items on the menu

Peace on Earth Poetry

A collection of poetry from our friend Butterfly Katz at Gentle World, co-author of Incredibly Delicious; Recipies for a New Paradigm.

Gentle World: A non-profit educational organization since 1979,dedicated to enhancing the quality of lifeby educating the public as to the benefits of a plant-based diet and sustainable lifestyle.

A vegan vaseline

While searching the web I found a vegan product that is like vaseline. Vaseline is petroleum - crued oil, which is formed from ancient animal remains. Yes petroleum is the same as the gas in the car, however I would rather keep it off my skin. So I found un-petroleum by alba. They make it in a lip balm and Jelly in a tube. I'm going to pick some up, so i'll give an update soon.

Yippie for the vegans!

UPDATE: Un-Petroleum Jelly By Alba contains beeswax, so it's not actually vegan.

I personally decided in this case to go ahead and use it, due to the nature of the situation i'm using it for - aid in elimination. I found that Earth Mama Bottom Balm works much better for ease in that area, however for the acutal elimination I need the Jelly - at least for now.

Don Weaver remineralize

Don Weaver, co-author of THE SURVIVAL OF CIVILIZATION and author of
TO LOVE AND REGENERATE THE EARTH, was interviewed on January 2nd,
2007, by Gabriel Cousens, M.D., holistic naturopath, and advocate of
raw veganic agriculture and nutrition, as well as author of CONSCIOUS
EATING, THE SEVENFOLD PEACE, and other books. He also directs the
Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, AZ
(www.treeoflife.nu). He has been working to inspire people toward
"Creating Peace by Being Peace," as his website
www.peaceeveryday.org/peace.html explains. His radio series of that
title can be accessed online at www.7thwavenetwork.com and the
interview with Don, titled "Giving to the Earth to Create Peace on
Earth" is due to be aired on Friday, January 12, 2007 at noon
Pacific, 3 pm Eastern time, and will, like the other programs in the
series, be archived and available for later listening.

Don Weaver
Earth Health Regeneration
POB 620478, Woodside CA 94062 USA
Author, To Love And Regenerate the Earth
Co-author, The Survival of Civilization,
both free at http://www.remineralize.org/

PCRM's Art of Compassion Gala on Saturday, April 14 - Washington, DC

The program will be hosted by Alec Baldwin and feature special awards, entertainment, world-class cuisine, and much more.

You won’t want to miss what we have planned on Saturday before the Gala. Start your morning off with a run on the National Mall led by professional vegan athletes Brendan Brazier and Kenneth Williams—all ability levels are welcome to participate. Then, join us for nutrition and cooking classes with special celebrity host Marilu Henner and The Cancer Project’s very own Chef Sualua Tupolo. These events are free to Gala attendees; however, to properly accommodate everyone, we ask that you register in advance for each session.

http://www.pcrm.org/gala2007/

Vegetarian Protein Guide

This cartoon says it with a laugh

The conventional diet guidelines suggest that humans should acquire a large amount of their protein quotas from meats & animal sources like chicken, eggs, etc... unlike a pure vegetarian diet which acquires its intake from plant protein sources.

Can the pure vegetarian (vegan) diet provide enough protein for sound human health? The medical community agrees about the distinct health advantages of a pure vegetarian diet, but the protein question stays with us because animal products have been promoted by the industries that produce them, sell them, and want people to think of them as the best source of protein. This assumption is wrong and can be harmful, as a quick study of the facts about daily requirements of protein and nutrition shows.

Source

Veg Pizza - In Oakland, CA

Pizza Plaza has recently gone through some wonderful changes. The owners have become vegetarian. The menu 1/2 vegetarian & 1/2 vegan.

Pizza Plaza
6211 Shattuck Ave Oakland, California (near the Berkeley border)
Phone: 510-420-1433
http://veganplaza.com/


I am spreading the word to bring support to these people. I believe that when we change we can bring those changes into every aspect of our lives. Congrats to Pizza Plaza for standing for what you believe in.

Best wishes for your success.

Oakland California is in the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area, CA.

Living Food Films

Living Food Films

Living Food Films is at the forefront of creating professional, educational, documentary-style videos regarding the superior health benefits derived from Vegan Vegetarian, and Raw, Living Food consumption.

Friends of Animals' Vegan Restaurant Guides

Friends of animals has a vegan guide for Los Angeles, NY, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, & Washington DC! They also have restaurant reviews online. It's a one page handy pocket guide to all the vegan & mealtess w/vegan option restaurants. You can usually pick it up for free in any of the restaurants on the list, or order it online for only 25 cents!
From the website:

At Friends of Animals, we believe that eating vegan is the most direct and life-affirming form of animal rights activism. The term that defines a plant-based diet and an animal-friendly outlook has, to date, been associated with what someone doesn’t eat, however. This is understandable: Vegans often engage in lively discussion about how and why they made the change from animal products to a pure vegetarian lifestyle. From environmental degradation to health risks to the inequity inherent in industries that exploit animals for profit, reasons for change abound. When we take animals off the menu, however, we open doors to a whole new array of healthful and delicious foods. Simply put, vegan food tastes great!

Vegan Momma's blog

I've been enjoying reading Vegan Momma's blog for some time now, just wanted to let u all in on the fun!

She blogs about lots of great stuff like: vegan food, her beautiful daughter, her love of cooking, her raw food experiences, her knowledge of nutrition, stories about her life and so much more. Oh and the pictures, prepare to have your mouth water, she is a kitchen diva!

Categories: (which blogger had these)
Personal My little Angel Getting to know you… Xbox Coily/Nappy/Natural Hair Care Shoe Diva Videos Artsy Diva Weblogs Animal Rights Animals Human Rights Vegetarian/Vegan Cooking Diva ~ Vegan Raw Foods Diva
Health/Nutrition Gardening Fitness Cleansing Breastfeeding Sprouting Herbs Why I became Vegan? Why I became Vegetarian? Vegan Children Juicing Recipes (Vegan) - Green Star Juicer Skin & Hair Care Other Blogs Websites In the News Books Finance Investing

I really like the setup of her blog too. We are working on changing ours over to include these great features.

Bobby Rock's Veggie Zone

Bobby Rock is vegan!

I'm always weary when i hear of famous vegetarians, these days anyone can call themselves a vegetarian. I hear it all the time, i'm a vegetarian but i eat... I will always search out information on veggie people, and when I come across someone who cares enough about veganism to put it on their website I not only take notice but I spread the word. - this is a great website, with wonderful information in veganism.

Info on Bobby Rock: (from his websites http://www.bobbyrock.com/ & http://www.rocksolidfitness.net/)

Drummer Extraordinaire

Solo Artist and Drumming Educator

Author

Entrepreneur

Health Guru and Vegan: Bobby is a respected health and fitness specialist and consultant with over 15 years of experience in the field. He's a certified personal trainer (American Council on Exercise), with additional certifications in nutrition and meditation. He has released a number of published articles on the subject of health and wellness, and has a forthcoming book entitled Rock-Solid Fitness, which details his entire regimen. Among the world's "most muscular vegans" (at 5' 11" and 200 lbs.) Bobby’s unique, synergistic approach to superior health has gained him accolades among musicians and health enthusiasts alike. Bobby also remains an advocate of drug and alcohol-free living with many years of sobriety.

I just want to say thank you to Bobby Rock for sharing his world with us.

A long list of some great websites

Brainwave Training

MotoLab - the cure for the common motorcycle

Immaculee Illibagiza is a survivor of the Rwandan Holocaust. She now works in the Rwandan office at the United Nations in New York. Visit www.diaryofimmaculee.com for details of Immaculee and her work. “The Diary of Immaculee,” a documentary based on this book. Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide.

American Vegan Society

EAT LIFE INTERNATIONAL

Burlounge

Repeal the REAL ID Act

FRUIT LOVERS ON-LINE SUMMIT 2006

MLM mentoring for free

1-800-FREE-411 yes it's free directory assistance - The service is made possible by thousands of national and local businesses who sponsor this service with brief valuable audio advertisements that are played to callers who request businesses in their yellow pages category.

Generation Blessings Generational Blessings are a result of Sherri Eck synergizing life and work. She is sharing her stories to inspire a more loving, conscious, intentional future generation through the act of our choices. Our children are the seeds we send into the future. Sherri Eck is giving suggestions, based on her life experiences, on how we as an intentional society can anchor more love and purpose in our family life, through conscious conception, stellar pregnancy, gentle birth, conscious parenting and creating a family legacy with values and traditions. Be the Change You wish to see in the World and My Life is My Message (both Ghandi quotes) anchor the meaning of Sherri Eck's work. Sherri Eck is the founder of Gather the Family.

Frederic Patenaude - raw food, life improvement, great articles

ecologically sound burial alternatives - now this is the kind of place i want to buried in. Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve celebrates the life of the individual, provides a lasting tribute through nature, contributes to the future of life, and enables survivors to remember those whom they have loved and honored in a place of beauty, serenity, and solace. Our fields, creeks, ponds, and woods provide a living memorial to those who seek common sense alternatives to current burial options and wish to continue their stewardship of nature beyond the mere span of their years.
Did u know?
Each year in the U.S. we bury roughly: ~ embalming fluid: 827,060 gallons ~ caskets: 90,272 tons of steel ~ caskets: 2,700 tons of copper and bronze ~ vaults: 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete ~ vaults: 14,000 tons of steel ~ caskets: 30 million board feet of hardwoods (including much tropical wood) On a per-acre basis with an average of 2,000bodies per acre: ~ Steel caskets: 97.5 tons ~ Concrete vaults: 2028 tons ~ Hardwoods: 56,250 bd/ft.

Honda Commercial Very important that you understand: that there are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it.The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again.The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. The film cost six million dollars and took three months to complete, including a full engineering of the sequence.
In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on british television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free" viewings When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation -including the costs.There are six and only six hand-made Accords in the world. To the horror of honda engineers, the film makers disassembled two of them to make the film.Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) are parts from those two cars.When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten. They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real.

Living Light Culinary Arts Institute - raw food cafe & school in Fort Bragg, CA

Raw World - Raw food event in Costa Rica

Building With Awareness: The Construction of a Hybrid Home , DVD

The Sustainable Solutions Caravan is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire sustainable living throughout North and Central America. For the past 2 years we have toured from San Francisco,California to Costa Rica in school busses fueled on recycled vegetable oil. Throughout the tour we promote alternative energies and bio-diversity by handing out thousands of seeds and creating a vast network of communities and people in over seven countries.

Raw Passion Fig Party August 19, 2006 A Delightful Social Mixer Picnic By the Russian River

Love Apple Farm's quest: To preserve specialty heirloom varieties of tomatoes for future generations. Santa Cruz county California Love Apple Farm Blog.

Dr. John McDougall's Health & Medical Center - Physician and nutrition expert who teaches better health through vegetarian cuisine.

House Alive - Natural building with cob, straw bale, natural plasters, solar electric, round wood, passive solar, earthen floors. Workshops in Cob, Natural Building, Natural Design & Appropriate Technology

Creative Health Institute - the Dr. Ann Wigmore Hippocrates Institute of the Midwest teaching Wellness that Works since 1976 - Are you Overweight? Do you have Diabetes? Arthritis? Candida? Cancer? Are you ill? They can help

Living & Raw foods online community

Healthful Living International - The World’s Premier Natural Hygiene Organization
HLI’s 3rd Symposium on Natural Hygiene & Healthful LivingAug. 11-13, 2006 in Long Beach, California

Organic Athlete Promoting healthy, plant-based living through Education, Community & Athletic Example

Transformational Institute, School of Natural Hygiene, home study course

Vida Clara (Clear Life) is our Fasting Retreat, located at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

Air Hitch - said to be a great website to get cheap airfare to hawaii, europe and everywhere else

Pacha Mama - spiritual eco-village in costa rica

Care2.com - an online community for those who care 2 care, eco-minded

Wild Health: How Animals Keep Themselves Well and What We Can Learn From Them

Biogas typically refers to methane produced by the digestion of manure under anaerobic conditions. The process is popular in rural areas, particularly in the Netherlands and Denmark, because it provides a convenient way of turning waste into electricity. The use of biogas is encouraged because methane burns with a clean flame and produces little pollution.

Matxain Etxea Basque Restaurant, live music & Flamenco dancing San Juan Bautista, CA

http://www.mikeandkathys-greatadventure.com/ - some friends from Santa Clara, CA


DEATH BY MEDICINE - "It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251. The total number of iatrogenic deaths is 783,936.

Rock Dust Grows Extra-Big Vegetables (and Might Save Us from Global Warming)

Common Dreams, breaking news and views for the progressive community

Array Of Toxic Chemicals In Humans 'Alarming' I Am Polluted

Rapunzel Goes Mad by Elad Haber

Raw Vegan VS Cooked Vegan

by Rob Miller
Vegan: a vegetarian diet devoid of animals or animal products.
Raw Vegan: a diet of fresh, uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

Read Article here

Raw Vegan

Vegan: a vegetarian diet devoid of animals or animal products.
Raw Vegan: a diet of fresh, uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
The vegan diet, with its omission of animals and animal products, is of tremendous benefit to both the individual and the Earth. It is in practice, however, largely a cooked food diet. Cooking engenders tremendous destruction of the Earth because of the resources used in the production, distribution, and cooking of the food. (see sidebar, The Ignominious List.)

Veganism is on the first level ethical and compassionate. But a deeper look at the typical vegan diet reveals the enormous amount of harm done in food processing, refrigeration, storage, shipping, sales, and more. Mining and forging metals for pots and pans, cooking gas and fossil fuel exploration and removal, asphalt production, paving of roadways, production of appliances with their myriad plastic and metal parts, etc. Each of these and many more are necessary for cooked food production. Each destroys vast swathes of land and the plants, insects and animals that live there. No doubt this destruction has other uses, but its most basic is to provide cooked, processed foods.
The vegan diet in practice is grain and soy based. These foods are integral to our current system of “totalitarian agriculture” where all forms of life are subjugated to our desire for ever-increasing volumes of food. The “amber waves of grain,” doused with millions of tons of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and chemical fertilizers, are fields devoid of almost all life, but the target grain. These were once beautiful fields teeming with life including flowering and fruiting plants and other edible vegetation.
The system of totalitarian agriculture, of which cooked food veganism is a part, has led to ever-increasing food production and consequently ever-expanding human population. It has also led to the ecological disaster in which we currently live. It is a vicious cycle where humans populate lands unfit for human existence, then create systems which allow us to live there, i.e., climate control housing, irrigation, apartment buildings, etc. In so doing almost everything that was there previously is destroyed.
Increased food production: increasing human population, requiring more land for shelter and increased food production — increasing human population: requiring more land, and on and on to our current ecological and sociological catastrophe.
It is important to understand that humans are made from food, and the more food there is, the more humans will be created despite attempts at birth control. This has always been the case. It is impossible to produce humans without food and in fact, our rapidly increasing human population is fed year after year by global food surpluses. There may be shortages in certain areas, but these are filled by surpluses from other areas, i.e. “food aid,” “humanitarian relief,” also known as grain surplus from Nebraska flown in to feed the starving masses in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Because we produce our own food, rather than eating what Nature provides, we have grown well beyond what Nature can provide. Since we do not live within Nature’s laws as we did for the first 2.5 to 3 million years of human existence prior to the advent of totalitarian agriculture some 10,000 years ago, (we have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and left the fruit-filled Garden of Eden in order to till the soil and tend animals), we also suffer from this strain on Nature in an endless series of famines, environmental disasters and wars — conflicts caused by too many humans unable to deal with each other under too crowded conditions.
The raw vegan diet can be a fully compassionate diet. Initially, during a transition period, many raw vegans may choose to eat gourmet raw food recipes. These do use some resources such as manufacturing and electricity for blenders and juicers. Still, this is minimal when compared to a cooked vegan meal. Over time, most raw vegans do come to eat a more barehanded diet consisting almost totally of fresh, raw, organic, preferably home grown, locally grown or foraged fruits and vegetables. This means simply wash and eat, or even better pick and eat. Each meal is a major contribution to the health of the Earth by virtue of resources not used. It is an immense saving of time, effort, energy, and even more, it brings substantial health and happiness — a major distinction between the vegan and raw vegan diet.
There is no doubt that the vegan diet brings better health than the standard American diet. As commonly practiced, however, it does not bring the vitality, deep balance and happiness that comes from raw veganism after an adaptation period which can be months or sometimes a few years. It can be difficult to stick with a diet for intellectual reasons, but far easier when one feels great from it.
These are areas in which vegans and raw vegans can and should learn from each other. Many vegans become such from an ethical or environmental motivation. Raw vegans generally make the change for health reasons, but are often devoid, or have only a glimmer, of the ethical/environmental principle. However, in ethical raw veganism, we have the most powerful combination for the possibility of sustainable, long-term human life as part of a healthy Earth.
Raw veganism (raw food or live food diet) is currently expanding rapidly. Hopefully, vegans and raw vegans will reach out to one another, combining their knowledge and efforts to create dramatic global change — together stepping outside the destructive vortex of totalitarian agriculture and lifeless cooked food, and joining in a peaceful, quiet revolution which will allow humans to once again exist happily as viable members of Earth’s living community.
Rob Miller is an accomplished writer, speaker, composer, saxophonist, flutist, world traveler, avid yoga practitioner, and enthusiastic raw vegan. He has toured and recorded across the globe as a musician, lectured throughout the U.S.A. and Asia on raw food and environmental topics, and organizes the annual raw food vacations in Bali and India. He can be contacted at: http://www.rawfoodvacations.com and mailto:robertmiller@rcn.com

The China Study: An Evening with Dr. T. Colin Campbell

The Interview - Wednesday, June 22nd

Dr. Lawrence H. Kushi: You are a strong advocate of essentially vegetarian or even vegan dietary choices. One of the things that I find interesting is that you actually grew up on a dairy farm in Virginia.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell: As a youth, I was a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I was raised on a farm and milked cows until I went away to school. I was the first member in my family on either side to even go to college, let alone graduate school, so I really went into the whole scientific profession rather naïvely. My initial graduate work at Cornell University was on how to grow cows more efficiently so we could eat more of them and drink more of their milk. My doctoral dissertation was specifically focused on making sure we all got enough protein, especially so-called “high quality” animal protein. I would have preferred to have continued on that path, but as I got involved in the Philippines working with malnourished children and then in the laboratory doing a lot of basic research, I started to get some results that began to question my whole upbringing, especially what I believed about protein.

Read interview

Book - An amazing story of a gentle lion

I just found out about this amazing story of a vegetarian lioness names little tyke.

"At four years old, the mature African lioness weighed 352 pounds. Her body stretched 10 feet 4 inches long and could run 40 miles per hour. Her skull, highly adapted to killing and eating prey, possessed short powerful jaws. Normally, African lions eat gnus, zebras, gazelles, impalas, and giraffes. This particular big cat, in her prime and perfect health, chose a more gentle way of life, vegetarian!

read more here

Is Silk vegan? - NO

Silk - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Silk is a natural protein fiber that can be woven into textiles. It is obtained from the cocoon of the silkworm larva, in the process known as sericulture, which kills the larvae. The shimmering appearance for which it is prized comes from the fibers' triangular prism-like structure, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles.

NOT VEGAN!

Here is some info we found on so called "peace" or vegetarian silk:
"Peace Silk" lets the silkworm live out its full life cycle. "Peace silk", also known as "vegetarian silk" is raised and processed differently. The moths are allowed to emerge from their cocoons to live out their full life cycle. The silk is degummed and spun like other fiber, instead of being reeled.

Is Peace silk vegan? NO. By definition(from wikipedia)
Veganism (from Wikipedia) is a philosophy and lifestyle which "seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment."

No matter how the silk is obtained, it is produced by an animal (animal by-product) therefore it is not vegan.

Issues concerning “Peace Silk”
As is it stated above the silkworm is RAISED. Meaning some type of controlled environment - a silk farm. Which takes the animal, and puts it in an un-natural environment. Humans provide the food/shelter, not nature. And they are kept in a room – Not outside so they can have fresh air/water/sunlight, etc.
“Silk caterpillars are very responsive. They look up when you enter the room”

“They are allowed to live out the full life cycle”. Great, but how? Living at a farm? Which means they are kept at the farm there entire lives in order to produce silk and more silkworms. What kind of life is that? A silkworm becomes a moth, that is supposed to be able to live-fly freely, not trapped in a farm cage.

So now what? Fiber from bamboo is being used for clothing material, it is soft and smooth like silk, and it is vegan and environmentally friendly - I'll save that info for another post.